Teleconferencing can be defined as the real-time exchange of information between people who are not in the same physical space. Teleconferencing utilizes a conference call which is a telephone call in which three or more people converse simultaneously. Many companies use conference calls as a meeting tool or to distribute information to a large number of listeners at the same time. The two main types are MeetMe conferencing, in which each participant dials one number, and ad hoc conferencing, in which a moderator calls each participant.
Conventional conference calls connect people through a conference bridge, which is essentially a server that acts like a telephone and can answer multiple calls simultaneously. Software plays a large role in whether the bridge has capabilities beyond simply connecting multiple callers. A company can have its own bridge or can contract with a service provider for conference call hosting. Providers frequently offer add-on features for conference calls, such as attendee polling, call recording and in-call operators or attendants. Companies using Voice over IP (VoIP) telephones can also host conference calls themselves if the VoIP software supports them.
Many phone conferencing systems require a login and personal identification number (PIN) to access the system. This helps protect confidential and proprietary information during the call.
In the past few years, corporations have gotten bigger and more spread out. Many American employees (more than 44 million in 2004) also do at least some of their work from home. Since offices and employees can be thousands of miles apart, getting everyone into the same room for meetings and training has become decidedly impractical for a lot of companies. This is one of the reasons teleconferencing has become such a popular industry. Through teleconferencing, companies can conduct meetings, customer briefs, training, demonstrations and workshops by phone or online instead of in person.
The simplest phone teleconference is a three-way call, available in many homes as a service from the telephone company. Another very simple (but not necessarily effective) method is to have two groups of people talk to one another via speakerphone. The limits of three-way calling and the sound quality of speakerphones make both of these options impractical for most businesses.
Videophones can add a visual element to conference calls, but businesses often need to share other visual information. Web conferencing allows people to communicate through text and video in addition to audio. The simplest web conferencing methods use chat and instant messaging programs to host text-based group discussions. More sophisticated programs exchange visual information with webcams and streaming video. Some web conferencing applications allow people to share documents online.
Companies can either purchase conferencing software and host their meetings themselves or use a hosting service. Hosting services provide the software and server space on which to conduct meetings. Either way, the company or the hosting service must have software to coordinate the meeting as well as ample server space and bandwidth to accommodate the meeting. Web conferencing programs combine tools already common to web pages and Internet communication. These tools are bundled into one interface to create an interactive meeting environment. These tools include HyperText Markup Language (HTML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Application Service Provider (ASP) markup, Java scripts, flash animation, Instant Messaging (IM) and streaming audio and video.
Some programs are entirely computer- and Internet-based. Others use the telephone system to distribute audio content. To participate in the online meetings, participants must have a computer, an Internet connection and a telephone, if audio content is not provided online. If the conferencing program relies on Internet-based audio chat and webcam feeds, the participants' computers should have a microphone, a webcam and a video capture card.
In general, every online presentation or meeting has a moderator and attendees. The moderator sets the time and date of the meeting, prepares the content and makes sure everything works properly before the meeting begins. Attendees can either view the presentation without giving feedback or can collaborate, based on the settings and capabilities of the programs. Often, moderators can record the presentation for later viewing and can pass their moderator capabilities to attendees during the meeting.